 Good morning. I'm Bob Toyofuco of the Pacific Law Institute and thank you all for joining this seminar this morning to discuss some of the issues with the public opening of the Capitol and as the hearings start next week. Before I introduce the speakers for this morning, let me mention some preliminary matters. What we want to cover this morning is the requirements to access to the Capitol, where to enter in the Rotana and the basement, what about parking, and then go into how will the hearings and testimony be conducted because it will be in person and virtual so it will be a hybrid type of situation and what about meetings at the Capitol? Are you required to make appointments with the various legislators in the House and Senate and as well as can you just walk around the Capitol after you have access to it? If you have any questions throughout this morning write them in the Q&A box at the bottom of your screen and we will answer as many as possible as time permits. If you need to utilize captions, press the CC button at the bottom of your screen and then press request. Next, after the webinar is concluded a survey evaluation will appear so please fill it out for me. Lastly, for more information the legislative website is a good resource and it is capitol.hoi.gov so there's some information too on the public opening. So let me now introduce the speakers for this morning. First of all we have Senator Jarrett Keokalole who was first elected to the State House in 2014 and then elected to the State Senate in 2018. He is currently the Chair of the Senate Health Committee and previously was the Chair of the Senate Technology Committee. We also have Representative Della Albalotti who is currently the Majority Leader in the House and she is a former Chair of the House Health Committee and Representative Balotti has been in the legislature going on to 15 years and Senator Keokalole is going into his eighth year in the legislature. So let me start with Della who will talk about access points and how to access the Capitol and then Senator will talk about the various requirements to get into the Capitol. Rep Balotti. Thank you Bob and first let me just thank you Pacific Law Institute and Think Tech Hawaii for putting this together. This is really valuable and for all of our 170 plus people here you're going to get some tips here for how to navigate the reopening which is going to be challenging as everything with this pandemic has been challenging. So the two areas for public to check in will be on the rotunda level that's the the ground level and there will be a checkpoint there where you'll have to check in to secure your guards. It's going to be very clear where there is because there's only going to be one table set up by the bank of elevators that are on the father Damian side of the of the Capitol. The second place for the check-in will be under the Capitol under the big under the rotunda and that's going to be where the there's a circular driveway and you're going to be checking in a table again similar to the the top area where you're going to be able to be checking in with securities and I'll turn the next question over to Senator. So there are requirements to enter the building. It's basically the same as the Safe Access Law program requiring vaccination or testing a proof of vaccination or testing if you recall you know to get into restaurants. So upon entering the building or approaching the rotunda and and checking in at the check-in table in front of the elevators or in front of the main entrance in the basement you'll be asked to show your identification and your vaccine card showing that you receive two shots of the vaccine or a full dose of the vaccine if you got the J&J or a negative COVID test within the last 72 hours. Children five and under are exempt from the requirement so like I said it it matches the vaccination requirement that we used to have in the restaurants in order to get into the building. And Bob if I can jump in here I forgot my one little piece the screening stations will be open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. for members of the public and so you know hearings typically can start at 8 most start probably at 9 9 30 10 o'clock for some but the building and the screening stations will be open Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thank you you know for those on the seminar if you don't mind because I have known both the senator and represented for many years I'm just going to refer to them as Jarrett and Della but Della are for one quick couple of quick questions are the stairs going to be open or is the only way upstairs to the floor two three and four floors is by the elevator once you're in the in the building through the elevators the stairs are open but you have to get into the capital via the elevators and that checkpoint. Bob one other clarification is if you're just coming for the floor session you still have to go through the screening stations but then the sergeants of both the house and the Senate will let you enter the gallery where typically members of the public sit during the floor hearings or the four sessions and so that's going to be in another way that people are able to enter the building at that time. I would encourage Bob for your listeners that because things are going to be uncertain we don't know how many people are going to be there there's essentially one check station at both of those areas both under the basement and on the rotunda that people should get there early if you want to go to the 1130 floor session for the Senate or the 12 p.m floor session for the house you really should get there maybe 15 minutes early just in case there's a line and you want to be seated you know so that you can catch all of the happenings on the floor. You know one other question Della is there going to be as far as you know or Jarrett a limit as to the number of the public that will be allowed into the Capitol? No the answer is the building is back to being open you know the only thing I would add to this conversation is the reason you need to go to the check-in table aside from verifying that you've been vaccinated or that you've had a negative test is that you'll be issued a sticker and those are going to be specific to the day of the week so that when you're moving around the building the security can verify that you have been through a check-in so like Della said you know you can access the stairwells and any of the other entrances or exits once you have entered the building the gallery the the only access point for the gallery is from the rotunda level but if you're moving around in the building you want to make sure that you have the sticker present so that people know that you have actually entered the building through one of the appropriate checkpoints Jarrett you know after I get a sticker I go in on Monday for a hearing or just to go into the Capitol for a meeting or whatever uh if I get a sticker on Monday day one let's assume right can I use that sticker for the following I have to do it every day right that's right I have to check in every day yes because the sticker is good for that day that's it yeah and you'll see you'll see when you get in that you know you can't reuse the sticker it's gonna clearly identify what day ah sticker counts okay we've had about a year to to test this out and pilot it with the staff and and the members so you know I think that the process will be pretty smooth I do recommend like Representative Bellotti said that if you plan to come come early but once you're in the building you should expect to proceed as if the building was still open the offices are still going to be accessible if you want time with a member you still really should make an appointment and not expect them to be available the moment you walk into the office and uh in terms of you know access and capacity you know we're going we're going the building's open we're going to try and accommodate everyone we can as safely as we can uh you know just like we did before the pandemic so so Jared as far as I'll go ahead Bella a couple of things I would add you know we do still have the masking requirement in all areas of the Capitol so even on the railings and in the hallways of those are uh uh places where you need to wear your mask in the elevators um Bob I think you had a question is there a capacity of people on the elevators you know people have been very good even as our staff we have over 500 people in the building people are still very cognizant of trying not to squeeze into the elevator so six six to an elevator you know is probably reasonable um but there is actually no limit you know if you if you wanted to pack people in you could pack people into the to the elevators um and so you know the question about public access room yes they are open and the public access room is actually a very good source for information online as well uh all the things that were open to the public before will be will be open to the public as they enter one little modification may be that as a senator said it's really important that if you want to make sure that you see members you should make appointments I think some members are are handling their office spaces differently and so it's really important to call and make appointments before before just showing up okay I want to have this as practical as possible so I may repeat some of the the questions but Jared on uh uh vaccinations uh I need two one and two vaccinations not just one but I don't need the booster is that it you need a full vaccination dose got it so for I got Johnson and Johnson for example so it was one shot and that's reflected in the vaccination card Moderna and Pfizer are obviously two shots a booster is not required to enter the building just a full vaccination course so like I said two shots if you did Moderna or Pfizer one shot uh for Johnson and Johnson or a negative proof of a negative COVID test within 72 hours you know a couple of questions excuse me Jared uh are students allowed if they don't have an ID so uh the vaccination requirement applies to anyone's age six or older so you're still going to need to be able to show proof of vaccination in order to get into the building yeah and I think you know if you have a student ID that may be enough you know I've had my yes Bob I've had my my daughters come in and they've used their student IDs okay good thank you Della and um somebody asked will the vaccination requirements to get into the capital building end on March 25th you know it's it's not determined yet and so the you know if there's one takeaway from this whole session I think for everyone it should be that you should be prepared for this whole situation to change because even when uh Bob when you and I and Della were preparing for this panel last week the situation has changed dramatically since then and so we're going to do our best to follow the guidelines that are required for every other state building but this is still the legislature it's an open building and it's the public's building so we do have to balance the safety of the members the staff and the public along with the guidance that's provided for the rest of state government we're going to try our best to accommodate uh and then make sure that everyone is informed as you know as soon as possible and as broadly as possible but you should be prepared for things to change uh you know if there's anything we've learned from the last two years that we need to be able to adjust on the fly to whatever's going on right so we are trying to accommodate and uh and and do that in the best way possible and then the second takeaway is that any changes will be communicated through our capital website so that capital dot hawaii dot gov website is a plethora of information yeah you know this this seminar some of the uh questions I had thought about but there are new questions that come in if you leave the capital after having been screened you go out to launch uh can you just come in because you have the sticker you don't have to be checked in again yeah don't lose the sticker but you should go back through the main entrances yeah if you're going to try and and access some other access point then expect someone to check on you uh and and really what we're trying to do is move everybody through the main uh those two main entrances on the rotunda and in the basement level okay another question was and then we can move on but do the state employees need to go through the checkpoint uh of bringing the cdc card and id so we opened and did a soft opening before this and we went and tested the procedures with our staff and our members and no uh the the session the session staff members but if you're talking about employees from other state agencies yes they still have to go through this checkpoints right so I think the the a way to clarify that is if you're in the screening line and they just wave somebody through they might be a staff member of the capital who have been showing their their vaccine card for the last two weeks and have already been identified as cleared same for the members uh I haven't been in the capital more than a handful of times in the last 18 months so the security didn't know who I was and I had to show my vaccine card the first times so if people are skipping through the line you know try and be patient uh they might already have been uh they might be a staff member okay there's some other questions we can get to later but a lot of them are similar if you leave and come back in you know come you have the sticker so you should be able to come back and check in at the security uh table right don't lose your sticker or don't lose your vex card you know you can always get a new sticker yeah yeah okay so let's uh let's move on to um the hearings and how the process will be handled so I'll turn it over to uh Vela first as to how the house hearings will be handled um you know for example I go there in person to testify do I have a priority because I'm there in person or how is that going to be handled because it's going to be hybrid in person and virtual so if you could go through that briefly sure Bob I think a really good rule to follow is that think about pre-pandemic for all of your viewers who've been here before right um you need to think about this process as if we were going back to pre-pandemic times and really the only thing that's been changed is that we now have this really awesome virtual um capacity and so by that what I want you to think about is how people would come early be prepared you would submit and could submit your testimony online and that we encourage everyone whether they're going to appear in person or via zoom to um submit their testimony online and then and then indicate whether you know how you're going to whether you're going to be presenting as well so if you come um in person or by zoom typically what happens in the house is that chairs have discretion to handle their committees and so people would have to work with the vice chair staff or the chair staff to make sure you know they understood the procedures in that room for that committee now typically what happens in the house is that um testimony comes in and they're organized by agency testimony first and then by organizational testimony and then individual testimony and that's the way that members would go through the testifier list so in some ways things won't change for some of the committees where they will continue to follow that process so whether you're in zoom land or in the virtual visiting room or you're here in person you have to be prepared to be called and now we cannot give you any specific time when your bill is going to come up so you just need to be there again a little bit early both virtually and in person to at the time that the hearing starts so that if you are called upon then you will be there and be present whether virtually or in person to give your testimony now I was able to speak with some of the bigger chairs here in the house so that would be our judiciary committee our consumer protection committee and our finance committee judiciary consumer protection cpc will be following what I just explained they're basically going to go through agency staff first followed by organizational staff and then individuals finance is doing a little a little thing differently and again this is all as senator said subject to change but what finance did yesterday and what they're going to try to do is they're going to go through the zoom testimony first and then finance staff will be staging the people who are in person and present and so there'll be a preference in finance to go through the zoom people first and then take care of the finance and the reason for that is as you know Bob as many of your viewers know finance often has two o'clock three o'clock five o'clock hearing notices and so that staging of people in person is going to be a little bit complicated but it was very doable yesterday and we want to encourage folks to do both in person and remote testimony whatever works for them because we want them to be part of the process so those are kind of the general rules and what I will say is you know people are asking about the committee rooms I think your tech staff has a photo of the rooms this is our conference room three to nine so as you can see from this photo our sergeant staff and our tech staff have done a fantastic job of setting up our rooms chairs will be spaced out there is going to be some limits so if you're if you're there early you'll get a chair but if you're not there early you're going to have to wait on the outside of course if you're done you don't have to stay there and you know you can open up a seat to other people you see that there is cameras in the room and that's for for members to be able to see the the zoom testifiers the testifiers who are participating remotely what I will also say finally I think Bob one of your questions was what about members what are they doing in the house situation again think about how we did this pre-pandemic members are often very busy and may not actually be in the room physically or in person so for our house members they will be able to monitor the proceedings the hearings via the youtube channel on the house and I want to invite all of the public if if you're not if you're not going to participate in testimony you can still watch all of the hearings on our house youtube channel our facebook live option and so there you can watch it their members are going to be encouraged to watch that and monitor the hearings remotely now if members want to participate by asking questions or voting or participating in the discussions then they will be present in the room so again it's that rule that we're kind of returning back to pre-pandemic times and that's kind of in a nutshell Bob what how the house is going to be handling the hearings you know one thing as a lobbyist you know if I want to go in to testify in person let's assume the hearing starts at 8 30 I will want to get there much much earlier if I try to get in at 8 30 I mean 8 o'clock I may not be able to get to the hearing by 8 30 depending upon how many people are in line waiting to get access to the Capitol right exactly and that's why the lines for access to the Capitol open at 7 a.m. got it thank you you know just a couple of other questions here uh interesting question what prohibits someone from getting a sticker doing his or her business then leaving and then giving the sticker to someone else to enter the same day I would assume that that person has to go to the table and at least you know but that's an interesting question you know the building was designed to be accessible and so it's naturally difficult to lock down and prohibit access I have no doubt that there will be people who will try and find ways around the rules all I can say is that if you would like to limit the potential of you being arrested or cited for violating state law as it relates to the Hawaii state capitals security protocols then you know this is the way to do it and I can tell you that there will be security present the sheriffs are present in both chambers have a sergeant at arms these are protocols that are put in place because we're trying to do the best we can and it's not going to be perfect and there are going to be mistakes and things are going to get confusing I can guarantee you that what I can say is that we're trying to do this the right way and we're trying to it's time to open up and so we want to do that and we want to do that in a way that's clear and fair and accessible for everyone I do want to add on the senate side the committee procedures are going to be relatively similar to the house committee chairs have broad prerogative on how they choose to conduct their proceedings I'm vice chair of the senate Hawaiian affairs committee we did have a hearing the first hearing I've been in in person in two years at the Capitol Senator Shimabukuro elected to take the in-person testifiers who were in the hearing room first on the measures and then took the testifiers who were present online as representative Bellotti said you know the pre-pandemic post-pandemic now whatever you want to call this section of the pandemic still the most important thing to do if you want to testify on a bill is submit written testimony so that it is in the record you can then elect either to testify in person and come down to the Capitol or make yourself available and testify remotely in the senate health committee my committee I do intend to follow the same procedure as senator Shimabukuro I'm likely going to take the physical testifiers first because they endured all the humbug to show up in person I'm really glad that we have remote testimony and that we were able to implement that during the pandemic because not everybody's able to to make it to the Capitol so so I'm really glad that we're also keeping that option available for people across the street who can't make it or people on the neighbor islands who who just aren't going to be able to physically be present you know the one difference I think in the way hearings are conducted now versus how they were before we closed is that because the proceedings are being live cast on YouTube at least on the senate side there are strict time restrictions in order to make sure that the bandwidth capabilities in the building are are properly accounted for and also to make sure that the proceedings are are organized appropriately you know in the past many of you know when you're in a physical hearing room and the chair has the gavel it's not out of the ordinary for a hearing to sometimes run over time and there's no big deal but the way the senate has organized the committee proceedings this year and last year there's a hard 90 minute window for subject matter committees to hold hearings so in the senate health committee Monday Wednesday Friday from 1 to 2 30 p.m that is my slot to hold senate health committee hearings if I exceed the 230 that 90 minute committee hearing slot the feed cuts because we are not able to broadcast beyond that on YouTube the staff needs to get in clean the room prepare it for the next committee and so we've we've tried to stick to those hard lines you know if we're in a vote once we exceed that 90 minute timeline then the feed will continue but in the senate just to make sure that whatever people are seeing in the room is the exact same thing that people who are on YouTube are seeing we're going to stick to those tight timelines I think that is a little bit different but it's to be fair and account for folks that are going to be watching online you know I have a question on because you had mentioned Jared written testimony so on the capital website when I submit the written testimony and I think the requirement is still there that I have to submit it 24 hours ahead right and then I press testimony and I choose now I guess in person and or virtual and I want to zoom if I check our virtual then I will get a zoom link eventually but is there going to be a I haven't checked was there going to be a area where I can say that I'm going I want to test excuse me testify in person yes there is right and then you know like I said each committee chair has broad discretion when it comes to their committee in the senate but at least for me in the senate health committee we do have the 24 hour deadline if you would like to be present on zoom and that's to make sure that our staff and our it personnel have appropriate time to set up the meeting and account for the testifiers you know it was common practice in the legislature before the pandemic that if they were you know if you reach the end of the testimony list in the hearing that you would make a general call to members present in the hearing room in case they wanted to testify I would always ask them to additionally submit written comments but you know I'm inclined to continue to do that you know if people want to make themselves present in the capital go through the trouble of registering and coming in to submit testimony and testify on measures you know I'm going to take them I don't see how that that custom and practice is going to change from what it was prior to the pandemic so and then the other thing is people often regardless of whether they they reach the you know they make the testimony deadline or not members of the public will often just email the chair directly or email their legislator and ask that they forward their testimony on to the chair those are all things that are still you know common occurrences at the legislature and at least for me in the health committee I try and make sure that we accommodate people who want to submit testimony to the furthest extent possible and I don't see that changing now can I echo some of those things for the house so again yes it's chairs dependent and it's also subject matter you know as senator understands right certain committees typically will draw more testimony or will have the will have lots of bills on the on the hearing notice so it really sort of depends also on kind of how a committee hearing is proceeding for time limitations in the house certain chairs do use certain time limits but even when there are time limits you know again because a hearing may be shorter and people could be called to you know ask further questions people should be you know mindful of that that hearings may be moving smoothly and so that there will be opportunities if they want to either be questioned to stick around and be questioned I will say senator one of the things I notice in the committees that I sat on I've wanted testifiers to stick around I had questions at the end and then they were gone and so that opportunity was lost and I think that's what people have to to realize is that yes there's there needs to be flexibility time limits tations are applicable and will be imposed especially for the larger committees but there will also be flexibility within the system to accommodate because members want to gather and get as much information as possible you know there's some questions on hearings and testimony and I'll ask you both about those first but there are a lot of other questions that come in I've come in about accents but we'll talk about that in a second but one question is there an expectation that the executive departments to appear in person to testify you know I think I think you better check with your committee chairs you know I'm probably going to be flexible in my committee I know for effect some of my colleagues in the senate will have different expectations I would echo that by saying as always again pre-pandemic you checked in with the chair staff the vice chair staff and see what the preferences are I would also say that you know being in person can also assist with the questioning process and so you know it's something that you're going to have to weigh Bob I saw in one of the the chat lines the question about how does staff for the agencies get a code in order to help if they're trying to assist the person in person I think for you know groups and organizations and agencies what you were doing in the past where you were getting multiple codes you should follow that practice you should follow that practice of being able to to to get the multiple codes submit the testimony and then be able to help in the ways that you were already doing when you were helping your executive agents agencies provide testimony virtually yeah you know the other question about whether it's preferable to testify virtually or in person I think the best answer that Jared gave is just you know check with the chair of the committee and you know my my feeling is that if I have a bill that I think that the chair is going to want to ask questions I will choose to go in person which I haven't been able to for two years right but otherwise I think a lot of people will still testify virtually especially those that just are going to stand on their testimony not expecting a lot of questions you know they're going to just stay home or wherever they are in their office you know and and testify so I think you bring up a really good point Bob and you know I've been trying to think about this from a from a broader sort of approach you know we're going to have a requirement to check in before you get in the building and then now there's remote access aside from that I really do think most of the way that capital works it's just going to go back to the way it was before the deadlines are still the same the process is still almost entirely the same and so the real question I think you should be asking is how am I going to be the most effective at whatever it is I'm trying to accomplish if if what you're trying to accomplish is make sure you're available in the hearing because you don't want to get in trouble then you know maybe maybe zoom in for that one but if you really need to be in the room for something that's critical you know Bob I've learned from you about that you're kind of a Jedi at this what what do you need to do to be the most effective that you possibly can does that mean you need to show up half an hour early and be in the front seat in the in the hearing in the hearing room and to make yourself available for questions that you know the the new building protocols are not really going to substantively impact all of that type of legislative practice and then if you do think that it might then the best way to you know account for that is to just go work through the chairs and and ask them directly because we're not going to be able to answer a lot of those real specific particulars. Thanks Jared um one question on hearings will there be a limit to the number of people who are loud in the hearing room for in-person testimony and and Della you showed a screenshot uh of of the hearing room so the number of chairs I set up and that would be the the maximum amount that's allowed in but I will assume that certain chairs will have a tv set outside in the hallway and people can sit outside social distance required and uh watch and if they are testifying in person they will be called in. Yes so what you saw is going to be kind of the capacity in the rooms and it's going to differ from room to room bomb um that tv camera that you saw on the edge of the photo that is going to be actually going outside for members of the public I believe to be watching and there's another tv on the other side that's for members of the committee to see the um virtual participants. Also the other thing is that members of the public can continue to monitor their hearings um at the YouTube pages on their remote devices if they have. Now what's challenging of course is the feedback the noise you know you're going to have to you know we've all learned how to deal with that in the last two years so that's just something to think about as you're um preparing to come back and and navigate when you're going to use devices when you're not um how you're going to monitor things again the public access room is open and so they sometimes have um um uh the ability to watch there as well so there's a lot of options for people that they can take advantage of. You know you know I would assume that uh Jared and Della that will be able to watch the senate and house uh hearing sessions as well as the the chamber sessions as usual right. Much of it is just not going to change there might be less chairs in the hearing rooms so that we can try and be as safe as we can but you know in the senate compared to the house the hearing rooms are much smaller so and then the practice of conducting the hearing is a little bit different so again I think the key here is to just be patient with us things are likely to change once we get open and you know for example if uh you know if once we get going there's just way more public participation than we had originally accounted for then you're likely to see a lot more monitors out on the railings and and access for people to wait outside the hearing room yeah if if we just don't you know if there's just a trickle of individuals who feel safe or feel it's appropriate to come in then we might not make very many changes at all but we are going to try and account for the amount of public participation we get you having this conversation already makes me worried about our wi-fi capacity if we're going to have a thousand people on youtube on the railing and you know that might be a problem it might actually disrupt the proceedings and they might you know we might end up at some point or another having this thing turn into chaos I expect it I thought it would have come earlier frankly with this move to remote and and it hasn't we've been able to to manage it so so just be patient with us work through your chairs if you have priorities and just try and do the best you can because that's that's what we're trying to do too yeah thanks Jared I didn't even think about go ahead Della so I just want to say something because you said it's as usual well there's actually a silver lining to this I think we had discussed doing virtual testimony for years and what what we accomplished in two years would have probably taken us 10 years to do so there are certain things that are not as usual the fact that you can watch hearings now after the fact and you can watch all the hearings right before we used to actually only be able to broadcast certain amounts of hearings and so now we have really and to the credit of the senate and the house tech staffs I mean they have just been fantastic so virtual testimony I don't think is going to go away and that's a huge benefit huge benefit for the neighbor islands as well as rural people here on Oahu as well as people who are working downtown but may need to monitor five different hearings they can now do that and so I think there are some things that are not as usual and that in this new normal in this post pandemic endemic world I am so excited that we now have greater access to the capital you know Jared and Della here's a question will a screen be set up during the hearings to allow people in the audience to also hear the remote testimony will the remote testifiers be able to hear and see the persons in the room when they testify yes the the quick answer is yes because the members need to be able to hear the testifiers so I think in all of the senate hearing rooms that I've been in the the way they've been configured is there's one screen that's facing the members table and then there's another screen that's facing you know the seating area for the public here's a tip here's a tip because this is happening at the finance committee yesterday and this is where the agency people who might be coming to testify in person I was just told as I as I did the walkthrough this morning that in the finance room the way that the camera is focused on the testifier if you look down at your notes your head is going to be showing so what you really need to practice and you know we've all learned this now that we live in this virtual world you have to be conscious of how you look on the screen and how how you're appearing so so to all you agency people out there when you're testifying in front of finance don't do this you have to make sure that you're looking at your paper and testifying like this okay jaren and bella before we get into meetings with legislators which I think is pretty simple a lot of questions still came in on access will hand carry bags and other materials be screened before accessing the building it's like the airport no okay uh the other one is you mentioned that their children will be exempt from the vaccination mandate at what age five and under and I saw in the chat as well I used a photo of my vaccination card on my phone great thanks a couple days yeah that that takes care that somebody asked at the screening table will there be questions having recent fevers or other symptoms of covid or is the concern limited to just being vaccinated just vaccinated or proof of negative test okay one other interesting question um what about access to the capital after five p.m the capital is closed so there you know it closed before uh at the end of business hours now if you happen to be in the capital because you have a late meeting or you have a later meeting with a member then their staff will have to assist in getting you into the building you know just to repeat because there's some questions if you come in and have a sticker and go back out you can come back in using the sticker but you should check in at the security up table before you go out the elevator yes and they may wave you in they may just wave you in because they see the sticker I don't believe that the elevators are open to the public in all the other areas so it's very clear where the public has to enter the building at the screening station yeah I've seen you know in the past I've seen members put their the sticker on their belt so that it's visible for me I put it on my collar because it may not be as visible on my belt but you know uh if you just go in through the main entrances with the sticker it should be fine uh if if a person is watching the hearing on youtube will that person be able to hear and see the person's testifying in person I would assume yes yes it's yes yes yeah okay um this is a another personal question I am legally blind and will the capital personnel assist me around to access the hearing rooms do you know often I think that a request has to be made or because usually my recollection is if there is a person who's blind that comes into the capital they usually have someone accompanying them to help them navigate the hallways and get to the right room right so so the you know the protocol on that hasn't changed if you need an accommodation for whatever reason then please call your representative or senator or the senate or house clerk and that accommodation can be made okay and then you you already kind of discussed you know if the if the current emergency period terminates I think people just have to look at the website to see if there are changes being made or check with somebody at the clerk's office to see whether whether the changes are are uh effectuated you know and expect things will change expect that they will change you know or or you can email babtoy fuku or or think tech and then we can have another one we'll answer the questions yeah um can I say so on the question of mask mandates yes people should look to see what's going to be our masking policy when the state indoor mask mandating drops but I also want to remind people right it may not be a mask mandate but if you feel like you need to wear a mask people should not feel like they they shouldn't wear a mask people should do what they feel comfortable with and I will share with you I mean I think I I know that we we haven't had an outdoor mask mandate for a while in the city in county Honolulu but it's really amazing to see how people of Hawaii view the mask as I wear it to protect others and so if you or I wear it because I have an immunocompromised person that I live with at home or I have a two-year-old who cannot get vaccinated so I think the others the other part of it is that while there may not be indoor mask mandates at some point in time if you feel comfortable and you want to wear a mask at the state capitol no one should or will harass you if you want to wear a mask yes and you know one other question is that uh I think Della you touched on it earlier if you want to come in and sit in the gallery in the senate or house to watch the session you can do so but the same protocols require you have to check in right and get clear and uh as Della mentioned if there are a lot of the public that wants to come in you should come in a little before earlier to make sure you get a seat in the gallery because there is going to be distancing as well you know and uh answer the parking situation two people again asked about parking there is no parking right now in the basement the the parking is close to the public you have to park at the health department or on the street or some other place that allows metered parking again bob capitol dot hawaii dot gov on that very opening page identifies the three lots of public parking that are available yeah okay so we have about 10 minutes so maybe a little more um jaren and and Della can you just briefly uh advise the public as to how they should go about having meetings with legislators who are there at the capitol call go ahead Della call and make an appointment that's how you can you know that's that's the simplest way call email staff members have been working have been setting up appointments uh there have been people already in the building uh this this past week and so there are in-person meetings happening um I urge people not to just kind of do a cold call or a cold walk in because we you don't know the situation in a particular office and so we might have an office that's not fully staffed or for some reason the members not there so you really want to make the most effective use of your time and call and make an appointment what what i'm going to do uh Della and Jared as a as a lobbyist really is that uh if I am going into the capitol to testify especially right I will call ahead with various uh legislators to see if they have available time because I can be there all morning or into the afternoon if I want to and legislators and legislators are continually taking zoom meetings as well so you know again there's just more access now because we have the in-person and the virtual options right you know by the way uh on the hearings I just thought about it if I am testifying in person and when I testify can I take my mask off to testify or should I leave it off no it's recommended that you well it's not recommended it's required that you wear a mask at all times at the capitol okay so even when you're testifying you will be required to wear your mask if you take it off you will be asked to put it back on okay great thanks Jared um any other uh advice on meetings I think it's pretty clear you should make an appointment yeah like I said I think this one is is really approach it like it was before the pandemic uh the building is open once you have access to the building you can proceed to just about any office most legislators will uh still have their office open and accessible we will but I might be in a hearing or in a meeting or doing a hundred other things and not able to accommodate requests if you don't make an appointment and so that really doesn't change you know that's how it used to be before as well if you expect to come in and drop in on someone uh they might they just might not be available to field your request especially if you you know drop in on my office in the senate at 1130 I'll be on the floor yeah uh somebody asked whether cloth masks are okay or do you have to have an N95 a face mask is required okay now a couple of minutes on conference committees in April and that's a ways down the road yet so things may change but I assume that at the conference committees you're going to allow people uh into the conference room to observe the conference committee hearings and and and I think everybody knows that it's familiar with the capital you there is no testimony allowed at conference committees but you can observe the the colloquy between the house and senate conferees right you know this is bob where I would interject a personal tip you know the conference rooms are going to get tight and you know you saw the configuration of the room for hearings in the house some of our conference rooms are smaller we're going to have to have tables where senators and representatives are seated across from each other to me this is where technology is awesome you can still watch us having our colloquy on our youtube and you could be waiting outside you know you don't have to be squeezed in like sardines like how we had in the past so take advantage of that option now what I think is the value of being in person during the crazy conference time and I'm looking at senator at this is like you know that's the time that you know we heard feedback oh I didn't get an opportunity to talk to members over the railing or I couldn't just grab somebody because I saw them in the hallway right that's where the value of being in person will will come in because as we're running from conference room to conference room you may be able to grab somebody you know and talk to one of their staffers or talk to them specifically and so that's uh you know again I would I would tell and suggest to everyone use the technology we have to to our advantage you can continue to monitor the conference hearings and as some of your um participants know some of the conference conferences are very um matter of fact you know their their their announcements their time their timing announcements and so the value is yes to observe but also to be around to be available to answer questions if members have them you know I there's a uh last question I've seen is from the CEO of ThinkTec so I'm going to ask you it seems to me that from Jay that these uh reopening protocols actually help in access and enhance the clarity of the legislative process do you think any of these new protocols will last into the future beyond COVID? Yes definitely the remote access piece of it and the the live access like uh the majority leader said earlier you know I've fought for a remote access for a number of years and it was hard to get there and the fact that everything is broadcast and archived on YouTube is a huge thing I think it allows uh the public I think it allows folks who work in the agencies that need to be here uh folks who work in the private sector that need to be here public advocates who need to be here to just be much more efficient I've I used to joke before well still now you know if the the veterans in this uh capital business know when they need to be present in the building regardless of whether you're a member or lobbyist and a protester you know a state agency person there's a feeling that at an instinct that you need to know when you need to be present I think this allows people to be more efficient at that because sometimes it's just more efficient to not be present to watch the action on YouTube in your office or out in the rotunda or on the railing uh if you don't know when you need to be present then call Bob Toyofuku he can explain it to you uh but otherwise just continue to use all of these you know this this new technology as a tool to make things easier because that was the point and I think it's working so it's going to change just like I said be patient with us uh and be open to have a dialogue because everyone here is open and and uh I think open to try and help people work out the best way to access the capital Bob can I see a couple of things about conference just because I don't want to forget about it so second crossover for bills is April 14th the House and the Senate are going to have to engage in some discussions about conference rules so those will likely come out in in early April and that will also help to provide more clarity about what to do and and part of the rules you know is that things like you know typically by practice customer practice only the lead negotiators speak in a conference committee meeting and so so those are the kind of things that we're going to sort out also the other thing to think about is that for members of the public you know agency people do this also all the time you can still write to the conference committee chairs and the members you can continue to email members about concerns about the bills so this this suggestion that there's no um access for some folks you know like how do we get into this black box that's conference uh we have all of these tools to still continue to get information to members to express your concerns and people have been very good about doing that both advocates and agency and organizational groups you know everyone understands that the written word is still the powerful way to communicate to legislators okay we're at the end of uh uh the seminar and uh uh Jared and Della any closing comments that you want to make Jared go first I appreciate you for having me on bob it's nice to see you uh on zoom and I look forward to seeing you and everyone else in person again we had a I thank you to think tech for putting this on and for for having me on like I said we had our first in person public hearing that I was able to participate in in the Hawaiian Affairs Committee in the senate yesterday down in 016 on the bottom floor where it always was and it was a surreal feeling uh the chair of the department of Hawaiian homelands forgot that he needed to get up and come to the front and talk under the mic when it was his turn to testify and uh and so it's going to be a bit of a surreal feeling I think for everyone to be back in the building uh like many of you I I love this work I love the legislative process and being involved in policy and advocacy and so I'm excited about all of it I am prepared for things to go haywire here in there because this is a the first time we're trying to implement all of this all at once but the democratic process is chaotic by its nature and so if anyone needs help or is confused at any different point uh please please do not hesitate to seek out resources your individual legislator the committee chairs the public access room the clerks in the building the sheriffs down on the rotunda just ask everyone's trying to make this work as smoothly as possible and and I'm confident that we'll figure it out so mahalo again Bella any last minute closing remarks yes I'm going to just echo what senator said be patient I think be patient and be kind with one another I I am so excited that we are reopening the Capitol and that we're going to be seeing people and talking to people and having dialogue we did a good job remotely I think it's going to be like senator said a little bit tricky as we navigate both virtual and in person but it's time and I do think it's going to enhance the process that we're able to see people and I'm so looking forward to being able to give you a hug Bob to shake a person's hand and to to greet people back here at the Capitol yeah well I'm looking forward to going into the Capitol I haven't been there for two years and after lobbying for so many years it would seem strange not to be able to get into the Capitol any event thank you very much senator and representative really appreciate the time that you spent for the seminar this morning I would also like to thank J. Fiedel and the engineers and others on staff that helped put this on and thank you all of the attendees and I hope this has been helpful so the webinar will close and the survey will come up so if you stay on for a few seconds after that and fill out the survey I really would appreciate so I can do further seminars and forums with Think Deck in the future thank you again and Sharon and Dahl thanks a lot really appreciate it I hope this has been helpful to everyone Aloha